Thursday, March 28, 2019

Robin Vos: Stop Sign To Progress

By Jeff Simpson 



The legislative season is kicking in, and the one person you will be hearing from a lot, is Robin VosRobin Vos is the "leader" of the Republican Party and Speaker of the Assembly.   Vos problem, is when he actually speaks and show his true colors. 

Under the Walker admin, the WISGOP had a plan of demonizing anyone in a union with a special emphasis on teachers.   Their hatred of public education, started with our local public schools, then expanded it to the UW system. 

This led to Vos, Walker, etc... amazingly calling Professors lazy and wanting to make sure they were in the classrooms and not being paid to do research.   Especially research that Vos did not understand (which is about 99.9% of all research done). 

Vos incredible ignorance led to this infamous quote:

In the wake of Republican victories at the polls last Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos opened another chapter in a contentious relationship with the University of Wisconsin System.
Vos said he wants university research to be geared toward helping the state's economy, "not on ancient mating habits of whatever."

Apparently the fact that UW system research brings in a billion dollars to the states economy was not good enough, or lost on the uninformed Vos. 

However what I want to focus on here is how incredibly ignorant and dangerous the WISGOP can be to Wisconsinites. 

If Robin Vos had his way, this would have never happened:

UW-Madison researchers have discovered one way a gene that usually protects against tumors can, when mutated, spur cancers of the breast, ovaries, lung and bladder.
The finding involving the protein p53 — for which no drugs have been developed, despite its link to many cancers — could provide a target for drug development, the scientists said.
“If you can eliminate mutant p53, you might be able to eliminate cancers driven by p53,” Richard Anderson, one of the cancer researchers involved in the study, said in a statement.
“Our discovery of this new molecular complex points to several different ways to target p53 for destruction,” said Dr. Vincent Cryns, who also worked on the study.
We have to be diligent in making sure that our politicians work for us, and not for special interests who care about profit and not the people.  No one embodies that  more than Robin Vos.    He puts being a Republican over anything else in his life and we are paying the price for that.   





Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Blaska For Imperiled Schools

Dave Blaska, Right wing Republican blogger, is running for the Madison School Board Seat 4. David is running against Ali Muldrow.
To many in Madison, Dave Blaska's name will sound familiar. He has been a stalwart on right wing hate radio Vicki Mckenna's show, and a local blogger.      
Now that Dave, a former State Employee, is retired, he has all day to accost, anyone who supports public education. 

Dave has a long history of being scared of, and wanting to punish anyone who does not look like him or can advance his bank account.   Here is some classic Blaska on section 8 housing:
This landlord offered helpful advice:
Plenty of ways to keep the Section 8s out of units. .... Just keep using creative ways to dodge them and you'll get a good renter in there soon enough. It may hurt your pockets some initially, but it'll definitely payoff in the long run.
Potential School Board member Blaska is offering "helpful advice" on how to "legally" discriminate.   Blaska also proudly concealed carries a weapon, which is dangerous in the hands of someone who is perpetually offended and scared.  Blaska also believes in regulating everything a teacher does all day, especially the women.  Blaska also looks up to Bill Cosby,which explains why Blaska's highlight of attending Scott Walkers Inauguration Gala, was creepily staring at cleavage! 
The most egregious act of Blaska's though, was when he teamed up with Wisconsin Law & Liberty(a right wing, Bradley funded group who is known for filing frivolous lawsuits), and sued the Madison Metropolitan School District. 
Right-wing blogger and professional cranky old man David Blaska has filed suit against the school board, the school district and the Madison teachers union for wasting his tax dollars by signing an employment contract.
Blaska's complaint, filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) -- a nonprofit law firm almost wholly funded by the right-wing Bradley Foundation -- accuses the board, the district and the teachers of "unlawful collective bargaining."
Under Gov. Scott Walker's Act 10, the court filing points out, teachers and other public employees are not allowed to bargain over terms of employment, working conditions, merit pay, benefits and any other items beyond cost-of-living increases on base pay.
Blaska, "whose taxes are used to fund the school district," the complaint observes, is also filing his suit on behalf of the teachers, whose rights are being violated by their union, he claims, since they are being unlawfully represented.
The lawsuit was completely without merit and thus was dismissed, but not until after too much time and money wasted on the frivolous challenge. 
Now that Blaska is running for the MMSD School Board, he sees a problem when the district does not punish "those kids" to the fullest extent of the law - and beyond. 
As he says, one of the problems he wants to solve is:  If they can’t keep order at a school board meeting, imagine the chaos in the classroom!   Yet Blaska fails to mention that there is chaos at School Board meetings because he creates the chaos.





Blaska is not in the race for betterment of the district, the kids, or the taxpayers.  David Blaska is in the race to make his name as a charter school hero, so he will create a circus to make sure people are paying attention. 

As he puts in his latest blog:

4. Name three things you believe the MMSD needs to improve.
Classroom Discipline. Return control of the classrooms to teachers.
More charters (call it “one thousand points of light”) One size does not fit all.
Lose the fixation on identity politics.
More charters, equals less money for MMSD and the kids who desperately need it.   

PS:   David after fully supporting ACT10, David likes to say things like:

  •  Trust teachers to control their classrooms. They are the captains of their ship. 
  • Because good teachers are quitting in frustration. Teachers with high expectations for their students, who do not make excuses, ought to be honored — not vilified.
Yet everything ACT10 was designed to do, and all of the many hours Dave has spent on hate talk radio decrying the teachers unions as the downfall of society and now he wants to recognize teachers as leaders?

PSS:  In Dave's latest blog, where he supposedly answers questions from Madison's Teachers Union, he answers with an outright falsehood: 

Because reformers like Mike McCabe — a former spokesman for MMSD! — are applying to Scott Walker’s Office of Educational Opportunity for charter schools instead of to MMSD.


After checking with Mr. McCabe, He says: 
I haven't applied to any Office of Educational Opportunity or anything else related to charter schools.




Why Mr. Blaska would need to make up things like this is beyond me.   I do know for certain that for the good of the children in Madison, please vote for anyone else! 

Image result for dave blaska singing capitol


Cross Posted! 

Monday, March 18, 2019

Brian "Hagar" Hagedorn - 1000 AD Hero

By Jeff Simpson

We wrote recently how Wisconsin Law and Liberty (WILL) was nothing more than a well financed WISGOP Apology/Propaganda machineRick Esenberg is at it again, this time he is standing alone on an island.   As so many typical right wing supporters are surprisingly jumping ship, Esenberg alone stands with Hagedorn.  When you make the money Rick makes to be an apologist, there is no lengths you will not go to protect that gravy train.   However, Esenberg while making a jumbled law argument, tipped his hand elsewhere, and probably did not even realize it(emphasis mine). 


And this is just as wrong as the idea that Hagedorn is somehow beyond the pale because he holds traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs about marriage.

Let's take a look: 

Christian marriage
Christians believe that marriage is a gift from God, one that should not be taken for granted. It is the right atmosphere to engage in sexual relations and to build a family life. Getting married in a church, in front of God, is very important.
A marriage is a public declaration of love and commitment. This declaration is made in front of friends and family in a church ceremony.

That is simple, most people are happy when friends/family get married in a church in front of family and friends.  Most people, not named Robin Vos or Donald Trump would agree with that.   It is the oldest trick in the book though by taking a sliver of his view and pretending that is relevant to all of his views. 

As we dig deeper, we realize that he holds views that would make Jerry Falwell Jr. say damm. 

Esenberg forgets to point out that Hagedorn also believes:

*  "The idea that homosexual behavior is different than bestiality as a constitutional matter is unjustifiable," he wrote in October 2005.

*  "There is no right in our Constitution to have sex with whoever or whatever you want in the privacy of your own home (or barn)," he wrote.

*  In one titled "Another reason why I hate Planned Parenthood," Hagedorn called it a "wicked organization" that was more devoted "to killing babies than to helping women." He said his litmus test for voting in an election was a candidate's position on abortion.
Hagedorn said he had committed himself to praying and lobbying to stop abortion. He went on to say his convictions on this issue and others were given to him by God.
"The Lord has laid three fundamental passions on my heart: 1) Protecting the dignity and sanctity of human life, 2) Defending and preserving the institution of marriage, and 3) Promoting racial reconciliation in the church and culture," he wrote in November 2005.

*  But he also said in his blog that the NAACP, the national civil rights group, was a "partisan hack" and a "disgrace to America" that should be repudiated by all who want racial reconciliation in the nation.

*  He called the Supreme Court's ruling in Roe v. Wade "the worst and most unjustifiable decision in history."
"We are now 45 million Americans short. That's right, 45,000,000 human beings," he wrote in January 2006, estimating the number of abortions that had taken place since the Supreme Court ruling legalizing the practice. "For me, I highly resolve again today that these lives shall not have died in vain."

*  “Here’s the bottom line: Mormon theology is blatant heresy,” Hagedorn wrote in the post WisPolitics.com found using an internet archive. “Mormons are polytheists who believe we can become gods and who believe that both Jesus and Satan are sons of God the Father.”

These views are no where near the mainstream and it is why supporters are running off in droves, from the Wisconsin Realtors Association(who wants their money back) and the US Chamber of Commerce, do not want to touch this race or be associated with Hagedorn in the least. 

As Joel McNally writes, there is positives that come from such hateful rhetoric:

That move proved to be too much even for a majority of Republicans. That’s another positive political sign, along with the growing reluctance of Republican funders to finance openly bigoted candidates.

Now it is up to the people of Wisconsin to reject openly bigoted candidates in the Spring elections.   

Vote NO for hate and 15th Century beliefs and YES for Judge Lisa Neubauer!   

Here at Cogdis, we were able to find an old college picture of Brian Hagedorn in college where he cemented his beliefs! 


Friday, March 1, 2019

Maciver Faces Reality

By Jeff Simpson 
(Matt "not a journalist" Kittle crying with Robin "bitter far right partisan" Vos that an adult introduced a budget in WI for the first time in 8 years).   

One thing that never fails to amaze me in modern day politics, is when someone does something stupid, their best defense is to pretend it never happened.  We saw Scott Walker master that with his perpetually sticking his foot in his mouth(wall off Canada, comparing peaceful protesters to ISIS, etc..) then pretend it never happened.    Luckily for them, the Wisconsin Press Corps is toothless and pandering and they never get called on it. 

Unlucky for them, Capper started a blog a few years ago and invited me to join him. 

The latest situation of faux outrage and terrible memories comes from our friends on the right - Maciver Institute.  Tony Evers refused access to their bloggers at a press briefing, and their feels got hurt. 

 Gov. Tony Evers likes to talk a lot about transparency and accountability.
Those two noble words, after all, were in the first paragraph of the Democrat’s campaign agenda.
“For the past eight years, Wisconsin’s state government has been used to … undermine our state’s rich tradition of transparency and accountability,” the opening lines of the political document state.
But it appears the governor is suffering from selective transparency and accountability. He certainly doesn’t seem to have much time for conservative journalists and critics.
Evers administration made that clear — again — on Thursday afternoon, when his handlers barred MacIver News Service from attending a Capitol Press Corps budget preview powwow behind closed East Wing doors.
This, despite the fact that MacIver has long been a credentialed Capitol news organization in good standing. 
They are credentialed in "good standing" because Scott Fitzgerald and Robin Vos issue the credentials. Does anyone think that a dark money propaganda org, that will write whatever they are told to help the Dems look bad and the GOP look good would not be in good standing with the WISGOP? 

Even Robin Vos apparently felt the need to weigh in (Edit note: i just saw this on Macivers page, could not see it on my own as Robin Vos is currently illegally blocking me on twitter.  Hey Robo - my handle is JeffSimpson7, please follow the law and unblock me):

Robin Vos@repvos
Amazing that @wisgop allow liberals to attend but @GovEvers is afraid to let @MacIverWisc attend?MacIver Institute@MacIverWisc
And thus ends the Open Government Era of the Walker years ... @MacIverWisc not allowed to attend @GovEvers capitol press corps budget briefing this hour despite MacIver's multiple requests and its capitol credentials. MacIver turned away at the East Wing door #wiright #wipolitics 311:38 PM - Feb 28, 2019
Umm Robin, I know that no one ever accused you of being brilliant or even remotely non partisan, but you do not "allow" liberals to attend.  Let me refresh your memory:

It doesn’t appear Walker is interested in improving his own image among certain members of the press, however. In an effort to block access to independent journalists, the entire media group, which was already set up in a first floor conference room, was asked to move to a more secure room on the sixth floor of the building.
The move caused congestion with about twenty members of the press and all their equipment jammed up in the hall outside the elevator. State officials checked the press credentials for a second time before allowing people onto the elevators. Once on the sixth floor, several independent journalists, including Jenna Pope and Arthur Kohl-Riggs, were denied access to the room by four Capitol Police officers.
These enhanced security measures delayed the press conference by 45 minutes.
Once in the room, Scott Walker’s Communications Director and former Karl Rove associate Jocelyn Webster ejected a WCCA-credentialed photojournalist for not displaying her press credentials (even though she is well-known photographer in the Capitol), and scanned the room in hopes of targeting more non-preapproved reporters.  Members of the public who pay for the state-owned building and to whom the governor is accountable as a public servant, were also blocked from attending the press conference.
Almost word for word the other way.   I personally feel that both sides need to let in people with press passes of either persuasion.  I also feel that the politicians should not be deciding who gets a press pass and who does not.   The one thing though that I am certain of, is that no one at Maciver is a journalist, nor are they reporters, they especially are not investigative reporters.    They are in our category of political bloggers, they are in a subset though of the Political Propagandist Bloggers, since they have a nice budget from the Bradley Foundation, so really stand for nothing but a paycheck.   

I also applaud Tony Evers for keeping them out of his presser.   Unless, both sides want to get together and come up with a fair and impartial way to issue press passes, then the WISDEMS need to be playing the same game as the WISGOP.   

For too long they haven't been. 

As a blogger, I say let the bloggers in (I have occasionally had press passes), but I have never once called my self a reporter or a journalist, and if Matt Kittle and his cohorts, continue to do so, maybe they should talk to a therapist about delusions of grandeur, before they get their blogger press pass and are allowed out in public!